I’m trying not to buy any new stuff this week so that I can focus on my own music. With that in mind, it wasn’t very clever of me to go to Academy records on my lunch hour. I managed to buy three new CDs:

Claude Nougaro – ‘Petit taureau’. This is very cool French jazz with a male vocal from 1967. I first heard of Claude through a 7″ EP belonging to esther’s mother. I have a great LP from 1960 which he recorded with Michel Legrand, so I was pleased to see this one used. It’s very jazzy and quite wild, but with the mildest hint of rock influence, particularly on the first track. Claude’s vocals are something of an acquired taste – slightly over the top with a lot of rolled ‘r’s.
Howard Roberts – ‘Something’s cookin’/Goodies’. I was very pleased to find another of these 2-on-1 CDs used. The material here is from 1964 and 1965. It’s frivolous and fun jazz quartet stuff, with as much prominent organ work (from Charles Kynard and Henry Cain) as guitar. Overall I didn’t enjoy this quite as much as the ‘Guilty/Jaunty Jolly’ CD, but it’s still pretty cool.
Paul Revere and the Raiders – ‘Hard’N’Heavy (with marshmallow)’. Hmm, why did I buy this? It seemed quite cheap, it is from 1969, and it had a cool name which made me think of Mama Cass’s ‘Bubble Gum, Lemonade and… Something for Mama ‘ album. Unfortunately, it sounds nothing like that, as anyone who know anything at all could probably have told me. It’s not too bad – just simple, bluesey, rocky pop songs, many of which are simple ‘Louie Louie’/’Wild Thing’-style three chord numbers. There are a few spoken word intros; the band seem to have been up for a laugh. Another reason for buying it were the bonus tracks, one of which is an advertising song for the Pontiac Judge GTO, and another called ‘Theme from It’s happening’. All in all, I have to say I prefer softer 60s bands with fuller arrangements – stuff like Harper’s Bizarre, The Association, Spanky & our Gang etc. Interesting to have though.

I must stop buying stuff.